In lure fishing, in order to improve a fishing result, it is essential to: cast far a fishing hook to which a lure is attached; reel a fishing line while handling a fishing rod to move the lure as if it is real one, thereby to attract fish hiding near an obstacle in water such as a rock, a fallen tree, or waterweed, or near floating matter at the surface of water; and cause the fish to bite the lure together with the fishing hook. However, when the fishing line is reeled while handling the fishing rod as described above, the fishing hook is often caught in an obstacle or floating matter, which results in the lure and/or the fishing hook being lost, or agitates surrounding water to scare the fish away. Therefore, in recent years, there is an increase in demand for a guard-equipped fishing hook that is not likely to be caught in such obstacle and floating matter, and enables landing of fish that bites the fishing hook without releasing the fish.
As examples of such a fishing hook, Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-70381) and Patent Literature 2 (Japanese Patent No. 4778451) disclose fishing hooks (jig heads) each being equipped with a brush guard.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a fishing hook using a piano wire as a guard, and utilizing a torsion spring coil to make linear portions of the guard, which are spread in a V shape, flexible. The guard is provided such that the linear portions thereof are spread in a V shape in front of a tip of the hook, and are inclined with respect to the tip of the hook. This guard is fixed such that an attachment base thereof provided with the torsion spring coil is fixed to a main body (shank) of the fishing hook by using a binding thread.
In the jig head disclosed in Patent Literature 2, a brush guard composed of a large number of monofilaments made of resin is provided at a sinker portion having a hook at its front end.
When the fishing line is reeled while handling the fishing rod as described above, each of the aforementioned fishing hooks might come into contact with waterweed in water and floating matter at the surface of water. However, the guard that is provided in front of and inclined with respect to the tip of the fishing hook clears the waterweed and the floating matter to prevent them from coming into contact with the tip of the fishing hook. When fish bites the fishing hook together with the lure, the guard needs to fall down or deform with little resistance by being pushed by the palate of the fish that bites the fishing hook. Therefore, in Patent Literature 1, the torsion spring coil is adopted in order to make the inflexible linear portions of the guard appropriately flexible.
In Patent Literature 2, since the guard is made of resin that is less firm (more flexible) than a piano wire, the brush guard is formed by binding the large number of monofilaments to add firmness.